The Bell 430 is a twin-engined stretched and more powerful development of the Bell 230, which, in turn, was based on the earlier Bell 222. Maiden flight completed on October 25, 1994 with series rollout in 1995. Production ended after 136 helicopters built. The last one was delivered in May 2008.

Bell 430 were built with either skids or retractable wheeled undercarriage.